Contact turns to conflict on the Murray

First contact may have been peaceful. But it wasn’t long before there was a lot of resistance around Moira station. It’s well documented in books such as ‘The Black Resistance’.

More than flare-ups, there were planned attacks on Moira Station and other surrounding stations. Many sheep and cattle were killed in an attempt to persuade settlers to leave the area. This form of persuasion was successful on some occasions.

The Moitheriban were the dominant tribe in the area of Moira Station as it was within their tribal boundary. Being the strongest and most numerous tribe of the region staged quite a few attacks on Moira station from what I’ve read and heard locally.

Curr documented one such case where the Aboriginal people took one or more of his sheep. The consequence of this was that one of his Aboriginal friends ended up being taken to Melbourne for sentencing. He was eventually freed and allowed to return to his Tribe. He also recorded the circumstances that led to the arrest of his friend and how they had arrested the wrong person when the Protector of Aborigines arrived with his charges. He conveniently leaves out the shooting of the people by the Protectors charges but does allude to this fact.